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H. T. B'ALLARD.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.28, 1920.

1,397,070, Patented N v. 15, 1921.

In ue i Jfenaecff Ballard,

PATENT HERBERT '1. BALLARD; 0F NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

KNITTING-MACHINE;

neat nae.

Application filed September 28, 1920.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERTT. BALLARD, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of Norristown, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

In circular rib knitting machines it is important that the dial post be mounted at the axial center of the knitting head but this is difficult to do and an error of a few thousandths of an inch in the placing of this post is multiplied at the periphery of the dial, resulting in imperfect indexing of the dial needles with the cylinder needles between the vertical planes of which the dial needles must work to perform good knitting.

It is the object of my invention to provide such a mounting for the dial post as will insure its exact position coaxial with the vertical axis of the needle cylinder so that the dial will be located centrally in respect thereto.

The invention consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the cross frame for supporting the dial with my invention combined therewith.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of said support partly in section.

Figs. 3 and 4E are detailed views.

In these drawings 1 is the dial post and 2 is the cross frame or spider which supports the same. This cross frame is supported on posts 3 of which, in the present illustration of my invention, there are four. These posts have reduced screw threaded upper ends orstuds 4; and the shoulders 5 formed about these pins or studs 4 afford bearings upon which the ends of the frame rest.

These ends are in the form of perforated bosses 6 which receive the threaded reduced ends of the posts or standards 3, being held thereon by the nuts 7 In ordinary practice these ends 6 of the cross frame are bored as accurately as possible and. the center 8 which receives the dial post is also bored as accurately as the skill of the workman permits and the frame having been secured lIl position on the reduced threaded ends of the supporting posts .or standards 3 and the dial post having been mounted in the center of the frame, the assembly of these parts is Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 115, 1921.

Serial No. 413,280.

complete, but in many cases the boring of the openings is inaccurate and the dial post Wlll be found to be slightly off center.

In carrying out my invention, 1 bore the circular openings 6 in the bosses or ends 6 considerably larger in diameter than the reduced upper ends of the posts or standards 8, and I provide a method of procedure and a structure which will insure the accurate positioning of the dial posts at the exact axial center of the machine. The cross frame having been placed in position with its ends-or bosses 6 resting on the shoulders 5 of the standards, I am enabled to shift the cross frame in any direction because, as before stated, the openings in these bosses are considerably larger in diameter than the dlameter of the screw threaded studs 4, and this shifting action is performed by hand until it is ascertained that the dial post has been accurately centered. This can be determined by mounting a gage or pointer on the needle cylinder so as to extend radially inward therefrom with its inner end just touching the dial post. Upon rotating the cylinder, the pointer will be carried around with it and it can be observed whether or not the inner end of the gage always touches the surface of the dial post. If it does just touch the dial post throughout its entire movement about the same it will be obvious that the dial post is at the exact center of the machine, or in other words, is exactly coaxial with the axis about which the needle cylinder rotates, and consequently, if the cross frame is now fixed on the standards 4 by means presently to be described, the mounting of the dial post will have been accomplished.

If, however, the inner end of the pointer as it travels around the dial post departs from the surface thereof at any point, it at once will be evident that the post is not at the axial center of the needle cylinder and hence the cross frame will have to be shifted slightly to make the gage point touch the dial post at this point and this adjusting action is continued until the inner end of the gage just touches the post at all points by the nuts 7, which are run down on the screw threaded studs 4. This having been done, it will be found that the annular spaces existing between the outside of studs & and the walls of the enlarged openings or bores 6 in the bosses 6 will vary as to their relation to their respective studs. The annular space at one stud may be eccentric thereto with the eccentricity lying along one radius while at the next stud the eccentricity of the space will lie along a different radius.

1 provide means for filling up these annular spaces, said means being adjustable to compensate for or rather to fit the different disposition of these spaces relative to the centers of the studs, and the centers of the openings in the bosses 6. This means conists of two sleeves 10, 11, one wit in the other and adjustable circumferentially in respect to each other.

The inner sleeve 10 has a circular bore fitted in diameter to slip down over the stud 4. This inner sleeve has cylindrical exterior but this is off center or eccentric in relation to the cylindrical inner bore of this inner sleeve. The outer sleeve has an inner cylindrical bore to fit the exterior of the inner sleeve and the exterior of the outer sleeve is cylindrical and of a diameter to fit the cylindrical bore 6 of the end or boss 6. This outer sleeve is eccentric in respect to. its exterior and interior cylindrical surfaces. That is to say, the exterior cylindrical surface is off center in respect to the inner cylindrical surface.

There is one of these compensating or filling devices for each end or boss 6 of the cross frame, each of said devices comprising an inner and an outer sleeve.

In applying these devices, one of the nuts is backedoff from the stud l while the other nuts, say three in number, continue to clamp the cross frame in the accurately adjusted position before described, and the screw which was passed through the boss 6 and against the stud 4: is backed out and this will leave the annular space exposed and unobstructed around the stud 4t and between it and the inner wall of the boss or end 6. The two sleeves 10 and 11 which are to fit into this annular space are then turnedin relation to each other so that they together will present a cross sectional shape exactly corresponding to the shape of this annular recess as shown, for instance, at the end A. The device, thus-adjusted,'is slipped into the annular recess and consequently fills it up at all points despite the fact that its inner and outer walls, defined respectively by the stud 4: and the wall of the bore 6, are eccentric to each other. Having placed the filling or compensating device in the annular recess to accurately fit the same at all points, a binding screw 12 is inserted through the boss and enters a shallow groove 13 in the surface of the outer sleeve and thus said sleeve is held in place. The nut 7 is then run down on the screw stud 4: and clamps this particular end of the cross frame against the shoulder 5 and this completes the fastening at this one end or boss 6 of the cross frame.

The same procedure is now gone through at one of the other bosses and so on until all the ends or bosses of the frame have been accurately secured to the standards 3, it being understood, as before pointed out, that while the fastening is being performed at one end of the cross frame, all the other ends are held by the nuts 7. In disassembling this part of the machine the nuts 7 are run back and off from the studs and the cross frame then may be lifted off but the compensating devices or filling members are not disturbed from their adjusted relation to the bosses 6. They come away as one body with the frame and in again assembling these parts the cross frame togetherwith the sleeves are replaced as one body. The screws 12 hold the sleeves in position for this purpose. The outer sleeve is split at 14.

I claim:

1.111 a circular rib knitting machine a dial post, and a cross frame carrying the same, a plurality of standards for supporting said cross frame, said cross frame having bores to fit over portions of the standards and of larger diameter in respect there to and means for compensating for inaccuracies in the positioning of said bores and the dial post consisting of two eccentric sleeves fitted one within the other, the inner one having an inner bore to fit the standard and the outer having an exterior to fit the enlarged bore of the frame and having respectively outer and inner cylindrical surfaces to fit each other, said sleeves being placed in respect to each other to make a filling piece corresponding in cross sectional shape to the annular space between the exterior of the supporting standard and the wall of the bore in the frame, substantially as described.

2. In a circular rib knitting machine a dial post, and a cross frame carrying the same, a plurality of stan ards for supporting said cross frame, said cross frame having hores to fit overportions of the standards and of larger diameter in respect thereto and means for compensating for inaccuracies in the positioning of said bores and the dial post consisting of two eccentric sleeves fitted one within the other, the inner one having an inner bore to fit the standard and the outer having an exterior to fit the enlarged bore of the frame and having respectively outer and inner cylindrical sur faces to fit each other, said sleeves being placed in respect to each other to make a filling piece corresponding in cross sectional shape to the annular space between the exterior of the supporting standard and the wall of the bore in the frame, nuts for holding the frame on the standards and screws for holding the sleeves within the bores of the frame, substantially as described.

3. In a circular rib knitting machine a dial post, and a cross frame carrying the same, a plurality of standards for supporting said cross frame, said cross frame hav ing bores to fit over portions of the standards and of larger diameter in respect thereto and means for compensating for inaccuracies in the positioning of said bores and the dial post consisting of two eccentric sleeves fitted one within the other, the inner one having an inner bore to fit the standard and the outer having an exterior to fit the enlarged bore of the frame and having respectively outer and inner cylindrical surfaces to fit each other, said sleeves being placed in respect to each other to make a filling piece corresponding in cross sectional shape to the annular space between the eX- terior of the supporting standard and the wall of the bore in the frame, the outer sleeve being split, substantially as described;

4. In a circular rib knitting machine a dial post, and a cross frame carrying the same, a plurality of standards for supporting said cross frame, said cross frame having bores to fit over portions of the standards and of larger diameter in respect thereto and means for compensating for inaccuracies in the positioning of said bores and the dial post consisting of two eccentric sleeves fitted one within the other, the inner one having an inner bore to fit the standard and the outer having an exterior to fit the enlarged bore of the frame and having respectively outer and inner cylindrical stirfaces to fit each other, said sleeves being placed in respect to each other to make a filling piece corresponding in cross sectional shape to the annular space between the exterior of the supporting standard and the wall of the bore in the frame, the outer sleeve having a circumferential groove and a screw carried by the frame and engaging said groove, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

HERBERT T. BALLARD, 

